Was that a play on Kallark’s outfit? It looked like Thanos, only even taller, more ape-like in build, and extremely muscular.

Huh. It was flying eagerly for the attack, too, and now slammed face-first to the ground as it lost its flight.

A telekinetic blast of horrendous power hit me from behind... or rather, it tried to. The Stillflight Field basically sent the full force of the blast directly into the floor, and so it blew out the ground directly between me and the shrunken mind-clone.

The Thanosi looked at the glowing Bite on my wrist, and I gave it thirty seconds of solar exposure in a one-inch beam to the brain. Pure radiation that didn’t move matter wasn’t affected by Stillflight.

There was a hiss as its bulbous head atomized. I hadn’t even really looked at it, because the bruiser was surging to its feet. “X!” it shouted in disbelief, while I recalibrated my Bites very quickly, then pumped them full of a lot of juice.

“Die, woman!” it shouted, and leapt for me... and crashed to the ground once again.

Not too bright, this one.

I slid-skated at speed right on top of it as it was getting to his feet. My Bones lit up, all the juice was flowing, and I pounded down on it as I broadcast Terror straight into its simple little brain.

It was not smart, but it did have a lot of willpower. Happily, I had a lot of focus, and on top of that, I was hitting it with the Strontian Kill Bands.

Yeah, that outfit wasn’t an accident. Thanos had mixed this guy with Strontian genetics. The level of strength would be insane, sure enough, but Strontians were vulnerable to a specific set of cosmic radiation bands, a fact known to the Skrulls and picked up by several other intelligent species, as well as by us.

The biggest factor of Strontian power was belief in themselves. If they believed they couldn’t be stopped or hurt, it was nigh-impossible to do so. It was a form of psionic reinforcement, simple but powerful, and extremely so if they received the Gladiator empowerment.

And now I landed one hundred punches in one second on this brute’s skull, all empowered with that radiation.

I didn’t have the mass for a Piston Punch, but I was damn strong, rocking a functioning 70 (75) at the moment, with Philosopher’s Might and my Nega-bands boosting that even higher, and I was fully Attracted to the floor here to anchor me, along with flight.

The cosmic energies cut through the Strontian psi effect, and I was effectively using the same kind of effect against it, along with equal Might; its natural Strength was a straight 75!

I jackhammered it so hard the nigh-adamantium floor of the base was folding beneath its skull. Sizzling agony like it had never felt roared through it as it lost its Will invulnerability, and it felt the titanic power of what I was pounding down on it. Terror took its willpower, I had a foot on its back to keep it from getting away from me, and I forced its head down, down, down...

And I Screamed a nuclear shockwave down at it only an inch across as I found the resonance frequency of its bones from the deafening echoes of the impacts of my fist, which by themselves would have pulped any normal being standing within twenty yards of me.

Its skull shattered and the brains within exploded, vaporized instantly by the force of the punch that came down to do for it.

The overbuilt body convulsed once, as if not believing it could die. I exhaled slowly as I stood up and looked around, bringing up an Interdiction as I did so.

There was something like a ‘ping’ as something tried to Teleport urgently away and failed to do so. Despite the huge tumult, I still heard a gasp and thump from the next room, and given there was a convenient hole in the wall, I headed through it.

Another Thanosi, this one in robes and a hooded cloak, looking like... Dr. Strange? It even had orange gloves on, and its hands flared up in a spellcasting motion the instant it saw me.

The energy blast blew through the Image I left there, and the four walls behind it without stopping, liquefying and melting everything in the way with a combination of magical and cosmic energies.

“Nice,” I told it, as it looked down at Function’s Blade jutting out of its chest, while I put a hand on its head and locked it tight. “Goodbye.” I wrenched its head completely around, stopping any more Casting nonsense, and brought Function up irresistibly, trailing vivus, to poke into its brain and stop any funny stuff.

I let the corpse drop, the artificial creature devolving and shrinking with unnatural speed as its false life ended. I looked around once, studying the place, and noted that the Obfuscation to my Cosmic Awareness was completely gone here... but it was now being sourced from a third place... and, oh ho, the original was now back, too...

There was a blip against my Interdiction. I recognized the energies, lifted an eyebrow, and let the spell collapse, allowing it through.

“Thanos! I’m back, and I’ve... aaaahhh!” shrieked a familiar voice from the other room.

I stepped over to the hole in the other room, seeing several familiar figures there. That would be Moondragon, martial artist and Titan-trained telepath; Gamora once again, the crystalline Blades I’d given her out and her Ultra-Specs gleaming; and the panicking Pip the Troll, staring at the dead Thanosi and clutching a large golden cocoon behind him.

“Dynamo?” blurted out Gamora, as her Specs naturally identified me. “Of the High Guard of Terra? What are you doing here? And what happened here?”

I stepped through the hole in the wall. “I would be asking the same of you, Lady Gamora.” I’d met them all several times outside of being a courier, always in the form I’d become famous in during Champion’s Contest, so I was easy to recognize. “These are Thanosi, fake Thanos clones. I don’t know what they were up to, but as their first reaction was to try to kill me, I did the same in return. There’s a wanna-be mystic version in the room back there.” I tossed a thumb over my shoulder, then crossed my arms to look at them. “So... exactly why have you brought Warlock in a cocoon here? I thought he needed those to heal himself after something traumatic?”

I should know, as I technically had the same power, I had just never used it. Courtesy of the Magus...

“I, I, I...” Pip trailed off, flushing red as everyone turned to look at him. “Th-Thanos said he could help Adam, and he needed to ask him some questions...”

I let that sit there for a minute, contemplating.

“I think there is another... Thanosi, running around?” Gamora offered, lowering and then sheathing the crystalline Blades in her hands. “He was clad in a suit of armor, something Thanos never truly bothers with. I saw him strutting at a meeting of nihilists, not even Black Disciples, and could tell it was not him...”

“A fourth one? Are there more?” The Cosmic Awareness interference was too harsh. “They made an attempt on Thanos himself, although it doesn’t seem to have taken.” All three of them blinked. “He’s on his way back here now, I believe, although he’s hiding himself. I imagine he will return stealthily, and knowing the systems here, will not be detected on the approach. One moment...”

I eyed the equipment on the dead Thanosi a moment, then the rest of the room. “You can remove Adam from here. Thanos did not request his presence, and it is dangerous to leave him here without that permission.” I stepped forward as they watched, and touched the golden cocoon.

That was sufficient to overcome Warlock’s personal Obfuscation, and I shot my gaze back along his recent life-line... and then back and up. “Huh. I take it you are unaware of why he is in this cocoon.”

Pip shook his head urgently. “He went somewhere, and came back raving about how he was going mad and needed to recuperate. We brought him to a mental hospital, and he brought up this cocoon to heal himself...”

I nodded once. “Sequester him someplace safe. I may need to wake him, but if not, it will be fine.”

“What of Thanos?” Gamorra asked quickly.

“I suspect these clones of his tried to assassinate him and failed. I doubt he has anything to do with this, so you’d best be going.” I gave her a casual glance. “Finally going to visit Venus?” I asked her.

“Venus?” she blinked. “Where is that... the Sol system?” she blinked as her Specs promptly filled her in.

I flicked up a Portal for her.

She looked at it, and froze.

There were people walking down a traditional street she knew only from books and old videos, something she had never seen for herself.

People... with skin like hers, and colored patches about their eyes like hers. Alive and well.

She was supposed to be the last of the Zen-Whoberis...!

“Who... what...” she stammered.

“Going?” I asked her. She looked at me, and then leapt through the Portal.

She was famous among the survivors of her people on Venus. How that all was going to go was something for them to work out.

“Still here?” I asked Pip. He gawked at me, and then touched Warlock’s Cocoon. A second later there was a popping, and he and the big golden egg were out of there.

Heather Douglas, Moondragon, eyed me cautiously. “Have you someplace to send me, too?” she asked me, still a bit haughtily, if warily.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, last student of the Shao-lon.” She flinched despite herself. “You have no capacity to take vengeance on Thanos for the deaths of your family or teachers, but there is a far greater cause out there.”

I studied her thoughtfully as she tensed up slightly. “You are a Primos human, yet you are one of the most powerful telepaths active in this galaxy. Lady Moondragon, the heritage you represent is of a value almost priceless to the humans of Terra, and, indeed, any and all races that do not normally develop psychic abilities and powers.

“Tomorrow I can have ten thousand students sitting down in front of you, ready and eager to learn the teachings of the Shao-lon and join the psychic community, and help bring the Human race along in its state of evolution.

“How would you like to be immortalized as the person who brought that to humanity and its allies?”

She stared at me in shock. “I-I am not opposed to the idea...” she admitted, stunned by the offer.

I flicked up a Portal, and on the other side Cassandra Rantha turned to look at the two of us. The resemblance to Moondragon was clear: two bald, tall, and powerful telepathic women, clearly able to feel the strength of the other.

“Wonderful. Someone here who can help the world reduce its noise, as I cannot,” Cassandra smiled, holding out her hand. “Come. We will help you however we can to do this, and you can lead all of humanity into a new age.”

Something lit up in Heather Douglas’ eyes, and she strode forward fearlessly through the Portal to Cynosure, which closed behind her.

I considered taking off after the Lived-Line I could see from Warlock’s Cocoon, but before it could a voice spoke up from the communication device in the room, “X, this is Armor. I am returning to the base. Do you have another assignment for me or the followers? They have been dispatched to Terra to investigate the instabilities mounting there.”

I debated answering him, but his voice gave me the perfect opportunity to lock onto him and the ship he was using to travel back here...